Gardeners in Oklahoma have to be eternal optimists. With the blazing hot weather, the drought, and the insects we have plenty to battle to have a beautiful yard or bountiful garden. This summer has been memorable for the records set with high temperatures and extreme drought conditions. My vegetable garden has suffered from those factors and then the grasshoppers came! An entire bed of beans was stripped of every leaf and two of my pear trees have been almost completely defoliated by the buggers while leaving the peach trees untouched. There might be a scientific explanation for the grasshoppers to avoid the peaches and flock to the pears, but the results are still stressed trees that might not make it through the rest of the year. I certainly hope they will; that’s my optimism coming through.

Being an optimist I have looked for the good things that the heat and drought have brought, and here are a few:

There are fewer mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and other pests that plague our dogs and cats.

My Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) and Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense) are stressed, and hopefully won’t survive the summer. I’m really being an optimist in that regard!

The ragweeds (Ambrosia spp.) are not as prolific as in past years. This will be great for allergy sufferers in the fall.

I haven’t seen as many snakes as in years past, and my brother reports that when mowing large fields with his tractor he hasn’t see as many mice this summer.

So, even though the heat and drought have been devastating, I can find a silver lining.

Have you noticed anything good about the heat and/or drought this summer? Please leave a comment and let me know. I always enjoy meeting another optimist.